By Russell Garth

If higher education had a “Holy Grail” designation, it might be a program that enhanced student learning and development while simultaneously lowering institutional costs. A recent, imaginative rethinking of student work-study seems to promise precisely that result.

Many students are employed (either on- or off-campus) while enrolled in college, but only a small handful of institutions incorporate student on-campus work into the heart of the educational program. Such “work colleges” require that all students hold part-time jobs, and the colleges draw on the educational value of this work as well as recognize its importance in running the institution. The number of institutions in the Work College Consortium using this model is small: Alice Lloyd College (KY), Berea College (KY), Blackburn College (IL), College of the Ozarks (MO), Sterling College (KS), and Warren Wilson College (NC). Significantly, this group of institutions has done comparative research on the benefits to students of this approach. Compared not only with public institutions, but also with other private colleges, work college students demonstrate increased abilities to be team members and get along with others as well as to develop original ideas and management skills. Also, at the work colleges tuition is typically low, students graduate with less debt, and college leaders have long been aware of the inherent savings in their payroll budget.

It’s unlikely that the ranks of full-time work colleges will grow. Indeed, a Berea staff member has observed that other institutions have sent representatives to Berea without making any apparent efforts to implement the model on their return home.

Just 18 months ago, however, Rhodes College (TN) embarked on a thoughtful and serious effort to adapt this approach on a partial basis, and this fall, in a planned sequence with Rhodes, Southwestern University (TX) is following suit. Like the work colleges, they are seeking both enhanced student learning and development, and institutional cost savings. But unlike the work colleges, they intend to involve only a limited proportion of the student body. In its second year, Rhodes is employing 40 students; its goal is 160 (10 percent of all students). Southwestern began with 12 this year and intends to double that number next year.

Both institutions started by asking a range of campus departments and offices to propose jobs that could be accomplished in 10-15 hours of work per week, that would focus on important institutional tasks, and that would challenge students. Twice as many departments proposed positions as could be used. Students then applied for the positions (also considerably more than could participate), aided by the career services offices in preparing resumes. Individuals filling these positions are known as “student associates.” In many cases, the positions are related to the student’s major—an English major writing for the alumni magazine, an accounting major in a business office, individuals from various majors serving as departmental liaisons to the library or technology office.

With this program, the institutions are raising several bars. Staff members are being trained as supervisors of students, and student associates receive centralized training in addition to that given by their supervisors. Overall, the institutions are establishing a culture of performance that is often lacking in federal or college work-study positions. In addition, since the student associates are essentially one-quarter-time employees, it is possible to ratchet up the institution’s capacity in a given area incrementally, instead of only by adding a full-time staff member. The result has been improved services, extended programming, and assistance to more units.

Here are some approximate numbers. Associates earn $10 per hour, which can total as much as $4,500 over an academic year and becomes part of a student’s financial aid package. For students, this is a good job. From the institution’s perspective, there are several important features. First, the money comes from institutional (rather than state or federal) financial aid, so it makes sense to use that money to get institutional work done as well as to provide financial aid. Second—and here’s the forecast of cost savings—a full-time position (including benefits) could cost up to $50,000, while four one-quarter-time associates at $4,500 each only cost $18,000. Though both Rhodes and Southwestern are moving slowly, creating positions through attrition or ramped-up capacity rather than layoffs, it is easy to imagine significant cost containment.

Finally, one of the Grail-like qualities of this program is that the more-learning-less-cost equation is available to every institution, because every institution already has the key elements—challenging work needing to be done, students wanting to work on campus, availability of institutional financial aid, and the support of career services and human resource offices. Southwestern is already finding that the adaptation of this model is easier than expected, and both Rhodes and Southwestern would welcome hearing from other institutions with similar initiatives.